SPEAKER A00:00:00 - 00:01:03
Hello, I'm Rod Butler. Welcome to Let God Speak. In a world of digital connections, nothing compares to in-person, face-to-face socialising. In the beginning, Adam and Eve enjoyed one-on-one talking with God. Sin changed all that, but since then, through prophets and Scripture, God continues to call us back into relationship. Join us as we commence a new study on the gift of prophecy And discover the Creator who still speaks today, restoring what was lost and pointing us to full redemption. On our panel today we have Gayl Fong and John Kosmeier. Welcome.
SPEAKER B00:01:03 - 00:01:04
Thank you.
SPEAKER C00:01:04 - 00:01:04
Thank you.
SPEAKER A00:01:04 - 00:01:31
Before we commence our discussion, we just want to bow and have prayer. Heavenly Father, we thank you for your communication with us. We thank you for your blessings that you give to us through your word. And as we have this discussion today, we ask for the Holy Spirit to lead and guide our discussion And may the viewers at home be inspired with your communication to us through your word. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.
SPEAKER C00:01:31 - 00:01:32
Amen.
SPEAKER A00:01:32 - 00:02:47
Well, Genesis reveals a perfect beginning where humanity walked with God in the cool of the day. That intimate connection was the heart of Eden. Yet the entrance of sin introduced separation, shame, and hiding. Even then, God took the initiative to seek and restore. Today we will trace how God's desire for face-to-face relationship with us has never ended. His prophets, His Word, and especially His Son Jesus reveal a Father who refuses to abandon His children. I'm going to start by reading Genesis chapter 1, verses 27 and 28. And I've got a question for you, John. So God created man in His own image, In the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. So John, from what we've just read, what kind of communication existed between God and humans in the Garden of Eden?
SPEAKER B00:02:49 - 00:03:28
It was direct and it was face-to-face and He guided them because they were in a new world and as He spoke to them, they learned what to do. And so every day, especially in the cool of the evening, He would come and visit them. But there was one day when He could spend the whole day with them, and that was the Sabbath, the 7th day of creation. And, and so the relationship between God and mankind, that's where it began.
SPEAKER A00:03:28 - 00:03:37
Wow. Okay. Well, Gayl, the relationship changed dramatically with sin. What were these changes for Adam and Eve?
SPEAKER C00:03:37 - 00:05:13
Well, just reading in Genesis, Genesis chapter 3, verses 7 through to 10, the Bible says Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked, and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings. And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. Then the Lord God called to Adam and said to him, where are you? So he said, I heard your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked, and I hid myself. So sadly, after eating of the forbidden fruit, Adam and Eve, they felt shame, they felt guilt and nakedness. and they lost their beautiful garment of light that covered them. And that led them to hide from God. They experienced fear instead of joy in talking with their Creator. They hid from Him in fear. So sin creates separation and fear of God's presence. You don't want to be near someone that you've done wrong to. You generally run away. And they were hiding from, trying to hide from God. God still came seeking them.
SPEAKER A00:05:13 - 00:05:31
Yeah, it's very powerful. Now I just want to pick up what you read in verse 9. It says, and the Lord God called unto Adam and said unto him, where art thou? Now, John, that question, where are you, where art thou, what does that reveal about His response to human sin?
SPEAKER B00:05:31 - 00:06:40
Well, it was the beginning of a response. First of all, God had to go and find them because They went and hid themselves because they knew that God was going to come and He was going to bring all kinds of— today we know them as problems, but they didn't even know what problems were. And so they hid. But God reveals Himself by coming to look for them. And when they come together, then it wasn't judgment. It was God bringing hope. It was God bringing reconciliation. And Jesus put it very well. When you turn to Luke, chapter 19, in the New Testament. And I'm reading from the New International, the New King James Version. Luke, chapter 19 and verse 10. For the Son of Man, This is God, came to seek and to save that which was lost. So He was on a redemption journey.
SPEAKER A00:06:40 - 00:07:04
So here's Adam and Eve, they're hiding, they're running away. Rather than being abandoned, God has taken the initiative to, to go after them. So that reminds us of a parable, doesn't it, Gayl? The parable of the prodigal son reflects God's actions in Genesis chapter 3.
SPEAKER C00:07:04 - 00:08:15
It says in the Bible in Luke chapter 15 and verse 20, the Bible says, and he arose and came to his father. That's the prodigal son arising and coming to his father. But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion and ran and fell on his neck and kissed So the father in the parable, he runs to meet his returning son. He's just overjoyed. He's been waiting for him to return. But this is mirroring how God sought Adam and Eve. Just as John had said there, immediately after the fall, we see God never gives up on His children. And He waits and He watches. And He He's always there ready to restore. Truly a loving Heavenly Father. So this parable illustrates the father's longing for that renewed fellowship, to have his son back. And despite his rebellion and despite our rebellion, God is seeking after us too.
SPEAKER A00:08:15 - 00:08:44
That parable of the prodigal son is, is mind-blowing because it's the father who's looking down the road, so to speak, for his son. taking the first initiative all the time to restore the son, but the son had to come back. And it's very powerful, isn't it, that we might wander away, but God is looking down the road for us to come back, and then He wants to run down and grab us and hold us because He loves us. Very powerful. Now, John—
SPEAKER B00:08:44 - 00:08:46
Old men don't do that.
SPEAKER A00:08:46 - 00:08:49
No, back then the culture was that—
SPEAKER B00:08:49 - 00:08:52
That's right. Yeah, so that's just something special.
SPEAKER A00:08:52 - 00:09:36
Yeah, he put aside his cultural shame and still ran down. John, I'm gonna read another verse now which isn't quite so obvious, but I want you to explain it to us. We're looking at now Luke 22:61, and it says, And the Lord turned and looked upon Peter, and Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said unto him, before the cock crow, Thou shalt deny me thrice. Now the setting here is Peter's denied Jesus 3 times and this is what, this is the Lord now turning. From that verse, how does that demonstrate God making the first initiative to call back the sinner?
SPEAKER B00:09:36 - 00:10:23
It's all in a look. Peter had just denied his Lord. His Lord was tied up. being held as a prisoner. And when Jesus turned His face, that's the equivalent to what was done in Genesis where God went and looked for Adam and Eve. Now Jesus was looking at Peter. And the next verse to the one that you read, It says, verse 62 of Luke chapter 22, verse 22, so Peter went out and wept bitterly.
SPEAKER C00:10:23 - 00:10:25
Hmm.
SPEAKER B00:10:25 - 00:10:36
Because he realized that Jesus was on a salvation mission and he had foretold it and here it was happening. It broke His heart.
SPEAKER A00:10:36 - 00:10:44
That weeping of Peter was the manifestation of a person realizing they've been forgiven. Yes.
SPEAKER C00:10:44 - 00:10:46
Yeah.
SPEAKER A00:10:46 - 00:10:47
I'm gonna go now, I've got a question.
SPEAKER B00:10:47 - 00:10:52
That wasn't the end of the story. We'll hear more about that in a minute.
SPEAKER A00:10:52 - 00:11:19
Going back to Genesis chapter 3, Gayl, we're gonna pick up verse 21. Genesis 3:21, it says, Unto Adam also and his wife did the Lord God make coats of skins and clothed them. Now what does the clothing of God represent? Here's the Lord seeking them and now He's clothing them. What can we draw from that?
SPEAKER C00:11:19 - 00:12:25
It's a very deep illustration here because the animal skins that they were clothed with, it was It pointed forward to the sacrificial system and ultimately to Christ's atoning death. So Christ actually symbolically died there in the presence of the sacrifice that day because it was an object lesson. It was a shadow for them of the reality that one day God was going to rescue them with His life. And that's why Adam and Eve didn't have to die that day. But that covering was, that animal skin was covering their shame and it was a picture of redemption. And God gave them this hope, this promise, this realization that there was future restoration for them. And this act of grace also showed his continuing love. Care.
SPEAKER A00:12:25 - 00:12:40
Wow. Now, John, Gayl mentioned earlier, before that answer earlier, the changes that happened to Adam and Eve because of their sin happened to them, but what were the wider implications for humanity because of that sin?
SPEAKER B00:12:40 - 00:13:07
Well, first of all, it separated man from God, so there was no more communicating face to face except in certain circumstances. And if you read verse 23 and 24, therefore the Lord God sent him out of the Garden of Eden to till the ground from which he was taken. So he drove out the man and he placed cherubims. Cherubims were angels.
SPEAKER C00:13:07 - 00:13:08
Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER B00:13:08 - 00:13:22
At the gate of the Garden of Eden and a flaming sword which turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life. God had to make sure that sin didn't go forever and ever. So He guarded.
SPEAKER A00:13:22 - 00:13:23
That's right.
SPEAKER B00:13:23 - 00:13:43
He sent angels to guard the tree. And so sin, you know, it cursed God's perfect creation with toil, with pain, with death. And the nature of man, every man, woman, child has come into this world with a sinful nature.
SPEAKER C00:13:44 - 00:13:44
So—
SPEAKER B00:13:44 - 00:13:45
Man's sinful flesh.
SPEAKER A00:13:45 - 00:14:07
So it profoundly changed humanity's environment, their nature. Dramatic, the impact of that sin. Now, Gayl, you mentioned the hope from the clothing that was the skins which were given by the Creator. What other hope was given immediately after the fall?
SPEAKER C00:14:09 - 00:14:56
the promise of a coming seed who would defeat the serpent. As the Bible reads in Genesis chapter 3, verse 15, God says, and I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed. He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel. So there's a promise of a Redeemer here, of a baby to be born, the Savior of the world. For this, In the first gospel announcement, it pointed to Jesus' victory over sin. Yes, he was, he was going to be bruised on the heel, but the Redeemer was going to crush the head of the serpent. He would be victorious.
SPEAKER A00:14:56 - 00:15:12
What a lot of hope that was for them at that time. Now, John, you mentioned earlier about the Sabbath being a special time. for them in the garden. What about us today? How does the Sabbath connect us with the original communication?
SPEAKER B00:15:12 - 00:16:21
The Sabbath was a time period where man could connect to God through the various ways in which God reveals Himself. And, and this is where the 7th day was a whole day every week set aside for— to worship God. And it became part of the Scripture in the book of Exodus chapter 20 and then verse 11. It says, for in 6 days the Lord made heaven and the earth and the sea and everything that is in them. And then He rested the Sabbath, that 7th day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and made it holy. And so here is holy time where God does again for every person on earth today what He did with the Garden of Eden. He found Adam and Eve and now He's using the Sabbath to find people once again or to get people to find Him.
SPEAKER A00:16:21 - 00:16:44
Okay. Well, let's, let's move on now. We're gonna move on to the time of Moses and see how things have changed. Now in Exodus 19, we have the encounter of the Israelites led by Moses at Sinai. How does that encounter at Sinai illustrate the change in communication after sin? Gayl?
SPEAKER C00:16:44 - 00:18:11
Well, at Sinai, the people could not approach God directly due to His holiness. So if they did, they would, they would die. There was a boundary around the mountain. So They needed the mediation of Moses. Moses had a very close relationship with God, and so God was speaking to them through His servant Moses. As He spoke to Moses, he brought the message to the people. But there was thunder, there was lightning, and boundaries replaced the intimate walks. that we read about in the Garden of Eden. And just reading Exodus chapter 20 and verse 19, just reading there, it says, Now all the people witnessed the thunderings, the lightning flashes, the sound of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking. And when the people saw it, they trembled and stood afar off. So it was an amazing phenomenon that was happening then, and this shows how sin introduced that distance and fear. And yet God still spoke, as I said, through His prophet Moses to guide His people. God still speaks to us.
SPEAKER A00:18:11 - 00:18:19
Thank you for that. John, how has God spoken through humanity since then?
SPEAKER B00:18:20 - 00:19:24
Mm. I love these verses at the beginning of the book of Hebrews. Hebrews chapter 1 and verse 1. God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets. Something new is being introduced here. Has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, Whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds. And so here we find that, first of all, there were prophets and they were the go-between God and, and His people, where God sent a message through the prophets to the people. And then we find that Jesus comes into the world and what's written down about Him is the communication that God has with us through Jesus Christ. God's determined to speak to us.
SPEAKER A00:19:24 - 00:19:33
Well, just, just on that point, Gayl, how does reading about what Jesus did in the Gospels reveal that communication with us and reveal God?
SPEAKER C00:19:33 - 00:20:26
Well, Jesus, He represents the Father perfectly, and in the Gospel of John, John 14:9, the Bible says, Jesus said to him, have I been with you so long and yet you have not known me, Philip? He who has seen me has seen the Father. So how can you say, show us the Father? So Jesus declared that seeing him is like seeing the Father and his life, his teachings, his death, his resurrection, his Perfectly reveal God's character. And God's character is one of love, and that's what Jesus portrayed throughout his life. In Christ, the invisible God becomes visible.
SPEAKER A00:20:26 - 00:20:27
Right.
SPEAKER C00:20:27 - 00:20:36
Yes, and this fulfills the longing for restored communication, that restored communion.
SPEAKER A00:20:37 - 00:20:44
So John, just if you can speak a bit more about that. What, what comfort does that bring us knowing that Jesus reveals the Father?
SPEAKER B00:20:44 - 00:21:49
We discover that God has a very tender heart. He is a pursuing Father. He's the one that dispels fear and draws us into, into trust. And here in the book of John, And John is the gospel that reveals God as God. And here in verse 27, my sheep hear my voice. Here God portrays himself as a shepherd who's looking after sheep. They follow me, and I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall anyone snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of my Father's hand. I and my Father are one. And so when we learn what Jesus is like, then we know what God is like because that was his work.
SPEAKER A00:21:49 - 00:21:50
And that gives us that hope.
SPEAKER B00:21:50 - 00:21:54
And it gives us that hope that we look forward so much.
SPEAKER A00:21:55 - 00:22:06
Now not everyone wants to read the Gospels. People, there's people out there who want to avoid Jesus at all costs. So for those people who want to avoid Jesus at all costs, how does God speak to them?
SPEAKER C00:22:06 - 00:23:06
Well, if we read Romans chapter 1 and verse 18 to 20, the Bible says, for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, Because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. For since the creation of the world, his invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse. So God reveals himself through his creation and We're confronted by the beauty and intricacies of nature every day, and the natural world testifies to the Creator. No one has an excuse for not knowing there is a Creator God.
SPEAKER A00:23:06 - 00:23:28
And that's the key point, is that no one's got an excuse. You might want to avoid the Bible and avoid Jesus, but you've only got to walk out in the garden and see the bees pollinating the flowers and see things growing. Something inherently tells you that that's not by chance. that God is speaking. So, John, what role does Scripture play today in God communicating with us?
SPEAKER B00:23:28 - 00:24:15
The Scripture is very plain. Here was the Apostle Paul talking to Timothy, giving this young man guidance, and here we find in 2 Timothy chapter 3 Verse 16 and 17, all Scripture, that's the Bible that we have, is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. That's right doing. That the man of God, we are now God's man, God's woman. That the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.
SPEAKER C00:24:15 - 00:24:15
Amen.
SPEAKER B00:24:16 - 00:24:24
And so God is not only saving us, but He's also putting us to work. And that brings us real hope because God needs us to do something.
SPEAKER C00:24:24 - 00:24:25
Amen.
SPEAKER B00:24:25 - 00:24:26
Yes.
SPEAKER A00:24:26 - 00:24:50
And that word all in that text is very powerful. It challenges all Christians because if you believe all Scripture, you've got to believe in the account of Genesis, of creation, of the flood, of these things which science sort of says, oh, never happened. If you— if all things are inspired, that's inspired. So it's a challenge for us. Gayl, how do prophets today function as God's spokespersons?
SPEAKER C00:24:50 - 00:25:34
Well, prophets are chosen messengers who convey God's will through dreams, visions, and direct words. And they remind God's people, they remind people of God's presence and calls to faithfulness. We see that throughout the scriptures. Their messages preserved in scripture They continually speak to us today. It says in Numbers chapter 12 and verse 6, then he said, hear now my words. If there is a prophet among you, I the Lord make myself known to him in a vision. I speak to him in a dream. That's God's Word.
SPEAKER A00:25:34 - 00:25:42
Well, look, when we think of prophets, we think of Old Testament prophets. You know, Elijah and Daniel. And do we have modern prophets today, John?
SPEAKER B00:25:42 - 00:26:27
100-something years ago, God picked out a 17-year-old lady, and for 70 years she revealed God through the dreams that she had and then passed them on to the people who were living in her day. And she wrote it down with a series of books and some that we have today. And so God has given us a direct message for His people at the end of time. And the last thing she said when she held up a Bible, I recommend this book to you because it reveals the love of God.
SPEAKER A00:26:27 - 00:26:33
Yeah, the prophets, the modern prophets will point everyone back to The Scriptures won't lie.
SPEAKER B00:26:33 - 00:26:34
Absolutely.
SPEAKER A00:26:34 - 00:26:57
Because the Scriptures are God speaking and they're inspired by the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit's not going to inspire and then contradict itself later. It's going to be harmonious throughout. Well, that's all we have time for today. Thank you, John. Thank you, Gayl. And we're starting this new course on the gift of prophecy and it's going to be very interesting discussions.
SPEAKER B00:26:57 - 00:26:59
We're going to hear a lot more about that from week to week.
SPEAKER C00:26:59 - 00:27:00
Amen.
SPEAKER A00:27:00 - 00:27:59
Yes, very good. Well, from Eden's perfect walks to our broken world, God has never stopped speaking or seeking us. Sin shattered intimacy, but the promise of the seed and the coming of Jesus offer full restoration. Now, through Scripture, prophets, and the voice of the Good Shepherd, the Creator still calls us by name, as we've been discussing on the panel today. May we respond today, hiding no longer, but running into the arms of our loving Father. Look, thanks for joining us on Let God Speak. All past programs plus teachers' notes are available on our website, 3abnaustralia.org.au. Email us on
[email protected]. Tell your friends about the program, and we want to see you next time. And until next time, God bless and may you read the Scriptures.
SPEAKER C00:27:59 - 00:28:12
You have been listening to Let God Speak, a production of 3ABN Australia Television.
SPEAKER B00:28:13 - 00:28:31
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